According to a report by Dawn H. Gouge and Carl Olson of the UA Department of Entomology, the tarantula wasp has the most painful sting in North America, second in the world only to Central and South America’s bullet ant, which earns top ranking on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. The wasp’s sting has been described as something close to sitting in a tub of water and throwing in a toaster oven—blinding and debilitating, leaving the victim a screaming, balled-up hot mess.
After only a few minutes, however, the excruciating pain usually subsides, and the tiny sting resembles that of a fire ant. You pretty much have to purposely pick the wasp up in order to get stung, as they mostly ignore humans. It’s our velvety eight-legged friends that need to beware, for its fate shall be a slow and grisly one as the female tarantula hawk uses the spider as a host for its larvae…
